Cueto/Owings, Phillips scratched

After he gave up seven earned runs and eight hits over 2 2/3 innings vs. the Nationals on Saturday, pitcher Johnny Cueto has run his record to 0-6 with a 10.64 ERA over his last eight starts.

Don’t be surprised if Cueto is moved out of the rotation and Micah Owings is moved back in when he comes off of the disabled list. It just so happens that Owings also pitched on Saturday so the turns line up perfectly. In his latest rehab assignment outing for Triple-A Louisville, Owings pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings with three hits, five walks and three strikeouts. Owings threw 93 pitches, 52 for strikes.

“His pitch count was up,” manager Dusty Baker said of Owings. “I hoped he could go a little further than five innings. If there’s one area you’d like him to improve on is the walks and consistent location, which would diminish the pitch count and add to innings.

“We’ll see. I have to talk to Walt [Jocketty] and Dickie [Pole] and our people down there to see what exactly we’re going to do and need to do. Sometimes what you want to do and need to do are two different things.”

Cueto is 8-10 with a 4.61 ERA in 24 starts and he has 136 2/3 innings pitched. But he also pitched in winter ball and the World Baseball Classic. He threw 174 innings in 2008 during his rookie season. There was concern before the season that he could run out of gas.

“His velocity is decent but sometimes when you’re tired, you can maintain your velocity but lose control and command,” Baker said.

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3 Comments

you know you are the laughing stock of baseball when the washington nationals take 3 out of 4 from you in your home stadium. We are officially the worst run team in all of baseball. It is time for Bud Selig to step in and take over this team because there is a very big question over whether Reds ownership is even interested in winning. The wheels have completely fallen off of the bus for this team and it is only going to get worse. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to wake up tomorrow morning and find Votto, Phillips, Lehr, Hanigan, Gomes all playing for another team. Why? Because they are the only ones that perform and we can’t have that now in stink land home of the worst team in baseball. It is ridiculous the decision making that Baker has been using and even a greater farce of a general manager we have. Are you kidding me? Only trade we made at the deadline was for a 34 year old washed up third basemen with a history of choking under pressure.

I can see, H-man, that something didn’t sit right with you over the weekend. Losing to the Nats – and worse, they look smooth and confident and professional, while the Reds look like a clueless, floundering mess. Ahyone notice Votto’s (relative) slump, complete with a lot of strikeouts. Think he’s packed it in? Sometimes we forget this is only his Sophomore season. Who would blame Phillips if he’d decided he was playing for himself? What’s left to be accomplished this season? And yet, Dusty still talks about putting the best lineuips with the best matchups out there, like we were 3 games out of the wild card! And we still don’t score. Time to experiment – well, way past time, actually. Pick eight or nine position players and play them everyday till the September call-ups. And make one of the Mr. Dickerson.

well 2 playoff seasons in 30 years and where are we going? I love the Reds I really do but if they can’t afford to put a winning team on the field then get on up out of here and move/relocate to another place where they can afford to win. I don’t want to hear the sorry excuse at the end of the year about injuries being the reason we lost so poorly this season! Has Cueto,Arroyo,Harang, Bailey been injured? how many days on the DL has Gomes, Taveras, Dickerson had?how many teams have a starting pitcher with more than 5 games under his belt with an era over 7? We have the lowest OBS in baseball the vast majority of our hitters have a season average below .250 and yet we still have the same hitting instructor? The same pitching instructor? The same manager? You’ve got to be kidding me! Any other team would have started the firing/ house cleaning process 2nd week in July and yet lowly Cincinnati has owners that are praising the management of the team????? Wow, the owners must be getting a kick back from other teams for being so bad. One less team to compete against.

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